Carlos' Next Step

[April 4th, 2007] Carlos, the Franklin High School student who was the subject of a November cover story about college admissions and undocumented immigration, has been admitted to two private colleges despite his status as an illegal immigrant.

Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., and the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., have both accepted Carlos, whose real name was changed in the story to protect his identity (see "Illegal Scholar," WW, Nov. 15, 2006).

Carlos' parents, a waitress and a laborer who both work in Portland under fake Social Security numbers, brought Carlos to Portland from Mexico when he was 7 simply by using temporary tourist visas to board a commercial airplane. Almost a decade later, the family has still not returned to Mexico.

But Carlos didn't get into his first choice, nearby Reed College. "I was pretty happy," Carlos says of his acceptance to Whitman and Puget Sound.

Carlos, 18, has long considered himself an American. He's passionate about repairing cars and interested in a career in international business.

But his parents' decision to bring him here illegally effectively bars him from earning citizenship under current U.S. law. Without a Social Security number, he can't apply for federal student loans, putting the cost of tuition beyond his family's reach. Some public universities in Oregon, such as the University of Oregon, ask students if they are U.S. citizens.

And while other Oregon public universities, such as Portland State University, would review Carlos' application without regard to his citizenship, there's no statewide policy on what universities like PSU should charge undocumented residents like Carlos. Carlos was previously admitted to PSU, where in-state tuition is nearly $10,000 less than the out-of-state rate.

The murkiness around undocumented immigrants' admission to college and their tuition could be cleared up under bills before Congress and the Oregon Legislature.

In Congress, there's the latest incarnation of the federal DREAM Act, which would allow undocumented high-school graduates to pay in-state tuition at their state colleges and universities. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) is Oregon's only co-sponsor of that measure.

And in the Oregon Legislature, Rep. Ben Cannon, a Democrat whose district includes Franklin High, introduced HB 2705 in February. Cannon's bill would require that Oregon universities charge illegal immigrants who meet certain restrictions in-state tuition.

The bill has yet to receive a hearing, however. "Many people consider it a difficult climate to promote pro-immigrant legislation," Cannon says.

Carlos understands that climate intuitively. But he rejects any argument that he should be prevented from attending college in the U.S.

"It happens to be that, yeah, I'm an immigrant," Carlos says. "And I'm trying to do something normal, something that should be easy."

From a financial perspective, Carlos' best option was to apply to private colleges, which are typically more selective than public schools. Private schools can offer students hefty scholarships from private sources, regardless of the students' immigration status.

Carlos hasn't decided where he's going, nor does he know what aid he may get. At Puget Sound, aid averages $11,000 of the nearly $38,000 annual cost. Says Carlos: "The financial aid package is what I'm looking forward to."